My only excuse for starting this thread is that I've been ill for about three days with little to do. So I decided to do a little investigating into the costs of converting the U.S. to alternative energy sources.
So here goes.
The world's largest solar power station is currently being constructed in southern Portugal. It will contain 52,000 photovoltaic modules producing 11 megawatts of electrical power.
The station will cover 60 hectares of land equivalent to 6000 square acres and will provide power for approximately 21,000 family homes.
A 200 watt solar panel costs approximately $1000, excluding installation charges.
If that price holds true for the wattage produced by that station, and I realize it might produce electricity cheaper than a standard solar panel, the cost of the station would be around $55,000,000.
Assuming that there are approximately 75-100 million households in the United States....and figuring for our purposes with the larger number....it would take 4,761 such stations to power all the homes in the United States.
The stations would cover approximately 29,000,000 acres and cost approximately $262,000,000,000 to build.
These figures do not take into consideration the number of such stations that would have to be built to supply electrical power for the nation's industrial needs.
__________________
How about it? Any other costs of converting to other power sources that can be reasonably quantified....even if certain assumptions and guestimations have to be made?
